— The West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan school district invites parents to join the district wellness committee. The group meets monthly. Contact Jenna Amundson, dietitian consultant, at Amund176@tc.umn.edu, for more information.

— Don Roberts, the former head basketball coach at Simley High School, Inver Grove Heights, was inducted into the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in October.

— Doris Hill, dean of allied health at Inver Hills Community College, was selected by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve a four-year term on the National Advisory Council for Nursing Education and Practice. The council advises the secretary and Congress on policy matters relating to the nurse workforce, nursing education and nursing practice.

The National Forensic League appointed Pam Cady Wycoff vice president of the board of directors. Wycoff began coaching forensics in 1982 and is director of forensics at Apple Valley High School.

— Yesica Mercado Munoz, a sixth-grader at Inver Grove Heights Middle School, has been selected as the diabetic ambassador on the youth advisory council for Children’s Hospital. She is the youngest member of the council, which is made up of students from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

RAMSEY COUNTY

— Margaret Robinson, a member of the special-education evaluation team for St. Paul Public Schools, and her husband, Steve Robinson, published a chapter in the book “A Measure of Success: The Influence of Curriculum-Based Measurement on Education.” Robinson was instrumental in designing the St. Paul district’s model for evaluation of English learners, which has won national recognition.

— Cretin-Derham Hall, St. Paul, will host “A Simple Christmas Art Fair” from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 6. The event will feature gifts made by members of the school community and people from countries around the world. For more information, call 651-690-2443.

— Anita Ratwik, a retired St. Paul Public Schools German teacher and board member of St. Paul’s German Immersion School, was honored at the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures annual conference. She received the council’s Professional Service Award, given to a retired educator.

— Kristi Townshend, psychologist at Metro Deaf School, St. Paul, was named a 2012 Bush Fellow. She plans to use her fellowship to identify accurate research on how deaf children acquire spoken language in conjunction with a sign language program. She plans to work with local early-childhood intervention programs to help families of deaf children weigh academic options.

— Rebecca Van Dyck, the first head of consumer marketing at Facebook, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of trustees at Macalester College, St. Paul. Van Dyck graduated from Macalester in 1991 and began working at Facebook in February.

— MTS Minnesota Connections Academy, a virtual K-12 public school, hosted Science Day at its St. Paul headquarters Nov. 16. More than 40 students from across the state took part in a morning of hands-on science, from experiments such as isolating DNA to chemistry demonstrations with a graduate student from the University of Minnesota.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

— Sixty students from the National Honor Society at Forest Lake Area High School participated in an annual Trick or Canning event Oct. 31. Students visited homes in Forest Lake, Scandia and Wyoming to gather 2,013 pounds of canned goods and nearly $100 in cash donations. Donations were delivered to the Family Pathways organization for distribution to families in need.

— Four students from Stillwater Area High School attended the FFA national convention and expo in Indianapolis, which drew nearly 55,000 students from across the country. Vince Anderson, Chelsie Anderson, Hunter Christian and Megan Shultz accepted a Two-Star award for their chapter.

— Christina Ippoliti, a freshman at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, has been selected for a national honor choir sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association. The group will perform in Dallas in March.

— The South Washington County school district earned a perfect score during the school bus inspection conducted by the Minnesota State Patrol. No defects were found in the district’s eight vans and 130 buses. The district’s mechanics include Andrew Smith (head mechanic), Cory Ebsen, Dennis Johnson, Gerald Neihaus, Daniel Schultz and Caleb Smith.

— For the ninth year in a row, independent financial auditors have given the Stillwater Area Public School District an “unqualified” opinion with no findings, the highest rating. The financial report is available in the Finance Department section of the district website at stillwater.k12.mn.us.

— Mahtomedi Area Community Education is seeking members for its advisory council. The council meets several times during the school year to discuss trends in the educational and enrichment interests of community members. For more information, contact Director of Community Education Annette Sallman at 651-407-2030 or Annette.sallman@Mahtomedi.k12.mn.us. An informational open house will begin at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 at the District Education Center, 1520 Mahtomedi Ave. in Mahtomedi.

— Kate Anderson is the new coordinator of early-childhood family education for Forest Lake Area Schools. She replaces Cindy Saarela, who took a job with South Washington County schools. Anderson most recently was a community-education specialist with Centennial schools and formerly worked in Spring Lake Park and Detroit Lakes.

WEST METRO

— Adam Marcus, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota, was named one of the 30 most admired design educators for 2013 by DesignIntelligence magazine. The university’s graduate programs in architecture and interior design were also recognized in the magazine’s rankings.

WISCONSIN

— The University of Wisconsin-River Falls and the Rice Lake Area School District are the main partners in a project to help western Wisconsin middle school and high school math teachers prepare for the implementation of the Common Core standards. The state Department of Public Instruction awarded a $316,600 two-year grant for the training project. Additional partners are the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and school districts in Barron, Cameron, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Lake Holcombe, Luck, Osseo-Fairchild, Baldwin-Woodville, Ellsworth, Menomonie, Prairie Farm and River Falls. To date, 36 teachers are involved.

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